Knitting machine



Aug. 27, 1929. M. SCHENI KNITTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 24, 1927 Aug. 27, 1929. M. SCHENI KNITTING MACHINE Filed March 24, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOI?" I '62 6/ f6 Z e n/z Aug. 27, 1929. M. SCHENI 1,726,456

KNITTING MACHINE Filed March 24, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.3.

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" U N I T E D FICE.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Application filed latch 24, 1997, Serial No. 178,105, andin France March 89, 1886.

The object of this invention is to provide a knitting machine characterised b the fact that it embodies a combination ,o the J acquard loom and a two-bed united-needle warp machine.

It will be recalled that the standard knit movements in a direction perpendicular to p the needles.

The reeds being fixed on their bars, a1l the groups or laps of. threads appertaining to one and the same bar must necessarily undergo, all of them, all the same shift ng movements either to protrude together wit the needles from one or both beds, or to pass between two rows of needles (behind the needles) without making a stitch, llke threads that weave, and such threads are then invisible on the surface of the cloth. The result is that roduction of coloured atters is confined w1thin rather narrow limits. As a matter of fact any possible shiftings of the threads, while 0 crating alternately the various groups or aps, can form only geometrical figures, squares, rectangles, lozenges and zig-zags more or less regular and intersecting, but can never form, say, a spiral line nor any pattern with varied designs, as is ossible with a weaving loom fitted with a acquard device, or with acquard-e nipped knittin frames which do not wor on theprincip e of warp-arranged 'threads.

My invention consists in applylng the acquard device to a knitting mechanism of the two-bed united-needle warp type, hereafter termed for convenience a Rachel loom, in order to obtain on said Rachel loom far more varied patterns, each thread being able to be chan ed from any group or lap to another by t e action of the jacquard device.

In order to make the characteristic features of the invention more. clearly understood, a preferred embodiment thereof has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure .1 is a viewfipartlysectional andpartly in elevation, s owing a double reed and the combs; in this Figure the needles and their support are also seen. 1

Figure 2 1s a lan view of the combs,

Fig. 3 is a si e elevation of Fig. '1, but showing alsothe mechanism for operating the movable combs.

According to theinvention, instead of securing the reeds directly on the bars which receive their lateral drive from the drum through a chain having links of different heights, I use'adouble reed lhaving two long flexible shanks (Figure 1), which reed is, mounted as follows: The usual square main support carryin the whole reed bar mechanism is formed by two plates 2 connected to ether at their ends only. The bodyof the reed asses between these two plates and-rests tiereon at a and b. The

reeds are guided and kept within the gauge of the-loom by a lattice of steel blades 4-. mounted in the leads3, each blade having a curved edge e which prevents the next reed from getting up and compels it to shift horizontally under the influence of a bellcrank lever subsequently described. The leads 3 are secured, say by screws, on the outer sides of plates 2 and are removable so as to allow a reed to be changed or re laced. The blades 4 are further rovided wit 1 pairs of depending feet a", (Figure 6) which are welded to the leads 3, and the latter, together with said blades, contribute to ive to plates 2 the rigidity required, the w ole, forming a block adapted to rock on its axle just like the square support of the common loom.

equal to the spacing between two blades 4..

The bed and its of the reed has the form of a T orizontal bar 1' is provided with g 1,726,456 STATES PATENT o MICHEL sonmn; or rams, amen.

a recess or depression 1 to receive the 4 rounded end of the short arm 7 of lever 7. The heddle 8 coming from the jacquard device located above the loom and not shown on the drawing, is hooked to bell crankv 7 through eyelet 9. The bell cranks 7 are kept in position :22 (down) by a rod, not shown, constituting a weight, located on top, or by a spring suitably positioned or else by a press mechanism; and when said bell cranks are rocked into this position a: the reeds occupy the position e-f. when, under the action of the jacquard device, one of the bell cranks 7 is lifted up to position 3/ the reed will be shifted to the position e f In Figure 1 the two shanks of the reed are seen to be engaged a little above their ends 9 and h in the combs or sleys 10 10 and 11. These combs take the place of the ordinary reeds and are suitably suspended, at both ends, from arms extending to the main support from which they derive the rocking motion necessary to lead the reeds through the needles. Said combs are composed of the rigid bars 12, 12 and 13 which receive the leads cast on the steel blades that form the teeth of the combs 10, 10 and 11. The middle comb 11 is a double one; that is to say the steel blades form teeth on both its sides. On the outer rigid bars 12 and 12 are located caps 14 and 14 with holes arranged in two rows to lead the threads 2' and j to the eyes in the ends 9 and It of the shanks; but said bars may be given any other suitable shape, for instance, instead of being formed of cast lead sections, they may consist of reamed teeth.

In Figure 2, combs 10, 10 and 11 are shown in plan. The ends of the combs on the drum side carry thrust blocks with adjustable screws 15, 15 and 16 corresponding to the faces of the bolts 17, 17 and 18 I extending to the link chain drum 19, the

latter being driven by gearing 20. Owing to the different heights of the chain links, said combs are therefore caused to shift horizontally and laterally over one or several needles so as to guide the ends 9 and h of the reed shanks carrying the weaving threads 73 and and to place said threads around needles K and L in order to make them form stitches orbetween and behind the needles to shoot the weft. The movements of the combs are, of course, transmitted to the shank ends of the reeds, and said shanks, owing to their flexibility, can readily yield and follow such movements.

When the jacquard device has brought a reed to position e, f, the end 9 of the lefthand'shank will be engaged in the left-hand side of the middle comb l1, and the end it of the right-hand shank will be engaged in the right-hand comb 10. If, on the contrary, a reed is not shifted by the jacquard but remains in its normal position 6, f, the

left-hand shank end 9 will be in the left-- hand comb 10 and the right-hand shank end It will be in the right-hand side of comb 11. I thus obtain two groups of selected reeds, equal in number, the first group being constituted by the shanks of the reeds engaged'in the middle double comb 11 and bound, all of them, to make the same shifting movements. The second group is constituted by the shanks engaged in the outer combs 10 and 1O which will make altogether the same shifting movements as imparted by the link chain, which movements will be different from those of the first group. Supposing all the reeds are threaded and shank ends g carry threads differing in colour from the threads carried by shank ends h, each needle on the loom will have at its disposal two threads of different colours and, throu h the action of the jacquard, each thread can be shifted to the other group or to another comb after each row of stitches. When the jacquard device removes one thread from a group, said thread is automatically replaced by the thread carried by the other shank of the same reed, so that each group always forms a complete lap of threads.

It should be noted that combs 10 and 10 are superimposed over comb 11 (Figure 2) so that they cannot rub against one another, and the blades forming the teeth are shaped as required in order that passage of the reed shanks from one comb to another will be quite reliable and that the shanks will begin to engage into the new comb before leaving the previous one.

I will now describe the method of operation of such a loo-m. Threading is the same as for normal work on an ordinary loom with two reed bars, the threads coming from the rollers or from the beams located at the top of the loom being passed through the holes of the caps 14 and '14 and thence through the holes of the reed shanks. The

shanks g carry threads differently coloured from those carried by shanks h, but if desired, the two shanks of the same reed can carry threads of different colours, or even threads of one and the same colour. I may also modify at will the colours all over the width of the loom.

Certain reeds will be shifted by the action of the jacquard device, according to a given pattern, after each row of stitches, and the threads will occupy four different positions: the two middle positions in comb 11 may serve to make the stitch, that is to say comb 11 will have imparted to it (by means of the drum links) the shiftings re quired in order that all the threads carried by the reed shanks g and h engaged in said comb 11 may make stitches with the needles of the two beds K and L and form rows of two-coloured or plural coloured stitches. The two outer positions wherein the reed shanks are engaged in combs 10 and 10 will serve to place the threads in weft between and beind the needles so as to be invisible on the surface of the fabric, and the weft can be made on several needles over the distance required in order that there may be compensation as to thread consumption between the threads that shoot the weft and those which make the stitch and come from one and the same roller or beam. In fact, the shanks of the reeds being sufliciently liant and the combs quite independent 0 one another, nothing prevents imparting to the outer combs 10 and 10 a lateral shifting long enough to shoot the Weft over a distance of several-needles. Equal or even absorption of the threads is, therefore, ensured. The beams are prepared as usual. When the teeth of the double comb 11 make stitches wit-h the needles of the front bed L they imprison the threads standing in weft on comb 10, and when the double comb 11 makes stitches with the needles of the rear bed K said comb imprisons the complementary weft threads on comb 10.

Combs 10 and l0 can, as Well, be actuated by the drum chain motions to make stitches and, vice versa, the middle comb 11 can be actuated to shoot the weft; said combs may even alternate operations in making one and the same piece of fabric.

I do not intend my invention to be limited to the embodiment hereabove described, and I reserve the right to modify in any suitable manner the form and the arrangement of the various parts without being deemed to depart from the scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A knitting machine, comprising a series of reeds each having two long, pliant threadcarrying shanks; a needle-bed for coaction with the reed shanks; a jac uard device for shiftin the reeds perpen icularly to the needle (1 so as to bring into operation the thread carried either by the one shank or the other of a reed; and combs cooperative with said shanks to guide and flex them laterally over one or more needles.

2. A knitting machine, comprising a series of reeds each having two long, pliant threadcarrying shanks; a needle-bed for coaction with the reed shanks; a jacquard device for shiftin the reeds rpendicularly to the needle- (1 so as to ring into operation the thread carried either b the one shank or the other of a reed; an combs cooperative with said shanks to guide and flex them laterally over one or more needles; said combs including a double intermediate comb, and two single combs at opposite sides thereof.

3. A knitting machine, comprising a series of reeds each having two long, pliant threadcarrying shanks; a needle-bed for coaction with the reed shanks; and a jacquard device for shifting the reeds perpendicularly to the needle-bed so as to bring into operation the thread carried either by the one shank or the other of a reed.

4;. A knitting machine, comprising a series of reeds each having two long, pliant threadcarrying shanks; a two-bed united-needle warp mechanism .cooperative with the ends of the shanks and including a jacquard device for shifting the reeds perpendicularly to the needle-beds so as to brin into operation the thread carried either by t e one shank or the other of a reed; and combs cooperative with said shanks to guide and flex them laterally over one or more needles.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

MICHEL SGHENI. 

